From Stars, We Soar
by Shira Lansys
Summary: They're sisters, even when they're on opposite sides. A oneshot depicting the Black sisters.


Cissy was always the caring one of the three. She was the one who hustled them upstairs when Mother and Father were fighting again (even though Bella was the oldest and it should have been her job). They'd gather around on her bed while she hugged them, and together they all listened to the curses being cast and the plates being thrown and broken as their parents fought downstairs.

When Andy got into her many accidents, it was Cissy she went to. The older girl would bite her lip, sigh her exasperated sigh, and bandage up Andy's knee, or put a plaster on her cut, or kiss her bruise better, and scold her for not being more careful. And Andy would smile that innocent smile that always got her out of trouble, kiss her sisters cheek, and thank her for looking after them all.

And when they were older and Bellatrix would fight with Rodolphus, it would be Cissy she would go to when things weren't okay. Even when Bella had moved out of home, Andy would often wake up in the middle of the night to the crack of apparition from somewhere in the house. She'd tiptoe down the hall and gently push open her sister's bedroom door. Bella would be in there, sitting on Cissy's bed like she had when they were kids, and Cissy would have her arms around her as Bella cried into her shoulder.

"_I hate him_," she'd sob. _"I hate him, I hate him, I hate him!_"

And Cissy would shush her and hold her, and ask her what was wrong. And Bella would sob out the whole story.

Andy wouldn't listen to the whole thing; she'd tiptoe back into bed and pull the covers up to her chin, safe and happy in the knowledge that no matter what happened in their lives, Cissy would always be there to help them get out of the mess they'd got themselves in.

* * *

Bella was the strong one. That never changed, from the moment she was born until the day she died. As long as Andy could remember, she was the one who stood tall and never let anyone outside the three of them ever see her with her defences down. If Cissy took care of the three of them, then Bellatrix protected them. When Andromeda's dorm mates were hassling her in her first year of Hogwarts, it was Bellatrix who magically dangled them by their ankles above the lake until they apologised.

But when it was just the three of them, Bellatrix didn't have to be strong. It was only around others.

* * *

And Andy supposed that made her the troublesome one. The youngest child, the one her sisters protected and looked after.

The one who got blasted off the family tree for falling in love.

The day she eloped, she told her parents. She'd planned it all; she'd practiced her confession, packed her bags, and made living arrangements for if (or perhaps _when_) the worst happened. She'd known that there was very little chance she'd be allowed to stay at home after she confessed to her parents that she was in love with a muggleborn, but that didn't stop the tears from coursing down her face when her father spat on the floor and yelled at her, "You're no daughter of mine!"

Cissy and Bella both followed her out the front door. Andy didn't want them to; she ran as fast as she could. To this day, she couldn't say why she hadn't apparated away and been done with it, but maybe she was too emotionally stretched to think of it.

Or maybe she did want them to catch up with her after all.

"Andy, wait," Cissy panted as she caught hold of her sleeve. "Stop running. Please."

Andy wrenched her hand from her grasp, but Cissy lunged forwards and wrapped her arms around her to stop her from running again. And Andy turned into her sister's body and cried.

It only took a few moments for Bella to catch up with them. By that time, Andy had pulled herself together a little. "What were you thinking, telling Father all that?" Bellatrix said, white-faced. "How did you _expect _him to react?"

"Like that," Andy sniffed. "But I had to tell him. I'm getting married; I couldn't hide that from him."

"Don't be ridiculous," Bella snapped. "You can't marry a _mudblood_."

"Don't call him that!" Andy yelled at her. "His name's Ted and I love him! I don't care what his parents are!"

"Well you should," Bella hissed. "Think of how this looks for Father. If he let you stay, we'd be branded blood traitors. I'm about to become a Death Eater; we can't have you marrying a mudblood."

"You can't stop me," Andy said fiercely. "You _won't _stop me."

An alien look flashed in Bella's eyes – a _scary _look. "Wanna bet?" she hissed, and drew her wand.

Andy was too shocked to respond, but she didn't have to. At that moment, Cissy pulled her to the side and stepped between her two sisters. "Bella!" she exclaimed. _"Enough_!" And her voice was so stern that Bellatrix hesitated.

"If you can't be comforting, go back to the house," she commanded. Bella glared and Andy and whirled around.

Cissy turned to her sister. "Oh, Andy," she murmured.

"I love him, Cissy," Andy whispered, before burying her head in her shoulder again.

"Maybe they'll come around?" Cissy suggested half-heartedly, but this just made Andy sob harder.

They both knew they wouldn't.


End file.
